Plan for the Work Agreement

Prior to commencing a work agreement, or any engagement, you must do your research to gain a preliminary understanding of your client's background, issues, and needs. It is important that the team understand these things.

At the most strategic level we begin with understanding the client's business and the issues currently facing their industry, organization, and the specific department or work group with which you are working. With this knowledge you are positioned as a business partner to make a clear concise work agreement that outlines expectations from all parties regarding what is to be accomplished and how you will work as a business partner.

Discussion about how you work together will further reveal the key client pain points as well as needs, issues, concerns, and potential red flags. Each team member brings past experience to the discussion that can help the team be successful and avoid past mistakes.

Use the Client Profile Worksheet to assess what you currently know about the customer, their situation, and how you will address working with them. From this stragegic look you can identify probable key pains of your client, and potential risks and red flags for the engagement.

During your needs assessment you used the Work Agreement Needs Assessment to identify the topics that would benefit from a Work Agreement discussion. Now, use the Work Agreement Planning Worksheet to determine what, within these topics, needs to be addressed in your Work Agreement and discussed in the Work Agreement meeting. Based on the results of your Work Agreement Needs Assessment, select the Work Agreement topics that are relevant to your project and situation. For each relevant topic, list "What Has Been Done" and "What Needs to be Done." This worksheet will guide you in the rest of your Work Agreement planning.

Decide who needs to be a part of the Work Agreement. This will often include your primary client and key team members. Develop an agenda for the meeting using the Work Agreement Meeting Agenda Template. Plan your agenda so you have time to review "What Has Been Done" and discuss "What Needs to be Done" for each of the relevant topics. Remember to allow time for team member introductions.

Prior to the meeting, an agenda should be proposed requesting input so additions and changes can be made prior to the meeting.

Once you have completed the Work Agreement Meeting Agenda Template, click below to Conduct your Work Agreement Discussion.